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. - -,-- ----.----- Central Arizona Project (CAP) is projected to divert 1.439 maf and The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) 1.246 maf. The preliminary March 1 st estimate of the 1997 end-of-year California agricultural consumptive use of Colorado River water under the first three priorities of the 1931 California Seven Party Agreement is 3.851 maf. lbis estimate is based on the collective use through February 1997 by the Palo Verde Irrigation District, the Yuma Project Reservation Division, the Imperial Irrigation District (lID), and the Coachella Valley Water District. Figure 1, bound at the end of this report, depicts the monthly forecasts of end-of-year agricultural use since the beginning of the year. Colorado River Operations On February 24, 1997, Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt, signed and issued the 1997 Annual Operating Plan for the Colorado River System Reservoirs (1997 AOf'). Concerning the Lower Basin, the 1997 AOP provides among other things that "...the beneficial consumptive use requirements of Colorado River mainstream users in the Lower Division States are expected to be more than 7.5 MAF, the surplus condition is the criterion governing the operation of Lake Mead for calendar year 1997, ...and any Lower Division State will be allowed to utilize water apportioned to, but unused by, another Lower Division State..." Included in the Board folder is a copy of Secretary Babbitt's cover letter dated February 24, 1997. On February 14th, I participated in a conference call with representatives from Reclamation, the United States Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), and the other Basin states to discuss the proposed agenda for a meeting in Mexico City between the Commissioners of Reclamation, the United States Section of the IBWC and their counterparts in Mexico. It was agreed during the conference call that Commissioners Martinez and Bernal would informally advise Mexico's water officials that because of the current reservoir contents in the Basin and projected runoff, Mexico may schedule delivery of 1,700,000 acre-feet of water during calendar year 1997. Included in the Board folder is a copy of Commissioner Martinez's February 28, 1997 letter to Commissioner Bema! initiating the process to officially advise Mexico that it could schedule the delivery of 1.7 maf of water in 1997. Last month I reported that due to the increased snowpack in the Upper Basin, Reclamation had begun to make flood control releases in anticipation of the spring runoff. Included in the Board folder is a News Release from Reclamation announcing the impact that this will have on the surface elevation of Lake Mead. Based on current hydrologic conditions, Lake Mead is expected, by November 1997, to rise to elevation 1216, approximately five feet from the top of the raised spillway gates, Lake Mead's storage will be 92.5 percent of capacity or approximately 25.3 maf. At the Board's January meeting I reponed that Secretary Babbitt had instructed Reclamation to begin the process of developing guidelines for making future surplus determinations and that Reclamation had begun that process through the Colorado River Management Work Group, By February 21,1997, the interested parties were to provide Reclamation with a list of Colorado River management objectives that the surplus guidelines should address. In response to Reclamation's 2